Directory:Historical Compendium of the Island of Korcula
Chapter One - Origin and Events
Some father historians, based on Diti, contemporary Cretan at the war of Troy, wish that Antenore as the first to land on the island should build a city, of the dark appearance of its woods called Corcira Melaena. Other followers of his in that position claim that they should not be exiles of Ilius, but, fugitives of Gnido. In turn the vernacularisation of Ditti, work of Cav.[1] Compagnoni, [2] no longer Antenore, who remained in Greece, but the said Aeneas, would like as leader of the colony and founder of the city of Curzola (Korcula), [3] competing with the opinion of Darete, Phrygian, other contemporary.
The truth of this claim, considering the mythological chronology of the grammatical Alexandrian Heratostene, would oblige us to go back to approximately 1184 BC, at the time in which according to the Bible, Gideon judged Israel: 126 years prior to David coming to the throne. But the historian, more traditional than anything else, cannot rely on vague claims. Yet least of all when facing criticism and Diti and Darete did not know how to support their historical existence and truth, whether Antenore or Aeneas was the leader, or Gnidi or the Trojans the colonists, the study of local antiquities cannot unless to arouse Trojans the colonists, the study of local antiquities cannot unless to arouse.
Belief that Curzola in ancient times was not some Graeco-Phoenician post. Even though of this period there are inferences which are not at all unfounded, none are of a particular positive nature. The mystery clears then when the Illyrians becoming powerful lord the Adriatic, their king Agron, asserting his authority on the other neighbouring islands also occupied Curzola, in 250 B.C. On his death regaining its independence, the widow queen Teuta took control of it again until Demetrius Fario, appointed as its prefect, surrendered it to the Romans together with Lesina his homeland. Whether Agron and Teuta had forcefully occupied the island with the use of arms, cannot be affirmed; the Alexandrian Appiano says no more than: "Pharumque bello captum" ; which makes us think it occurred due to combined dedication. Only in the times of Caesar Octavian Augustus (42 B.C.) does the name in the history of human events appear clear. It is done now for the first time, that the Curzolani [4] tried to seal the reacquired freedom with their own blood; they resisted with anguished courage to the arms of the triumvir who had come in person to conquer it, and equal to the resistance was the punishment.
The Alexandrian Appiano tells us of the severity of the punishment and the cause of the war:
| “ | Divus Augustus deficientes Melitenses et Corcyrenses qui Insulas incolunt; ingenti belli mole superavit, quoniam maria classe praedebatur. Puberes ad unum caesi cetera multitudo sub corona venit. | ” |
But if Octavian in the repression caused it damaged, he didn’t consider it unworthy of his attention for its benefit; sending Roman colonists to it to direct it for better understood and regulated habits, paving the way to a much greater cultivation lessening the original coarseness. If the gravestones which are being unearthed among the ruins scattered across the island bear witness to the existence of the Roman colonies, they explain their purpose.
Curzola (Korcula) from its origins to the present time has been in existence for 3,038 years, and history classifies its political life in the following phases:
- Free with her own independence until the occupation by Agron, and then for very short intervals by Teuta, by the Romans until Octaviano Augustus; and then at the time of the Veneti [5] from 1180 to 1852, from 1254 to 1258, and from 1418 to 1420, on the whole.
- Subject to the Roman Emperors first from the west, then from the east, by Augustus at Heraclius until 642.
- Defeated and confederated by the Narantani from 642 to 999
- Conquered by the Veneti under the management of the doge Pietro Orscolo from 999 to 1100.
- Held by the Genoese from 1100 to 1129.
- Recaptured by Popone Zorzi, from the Veneto Region, and by the Republic subjected to this house from 1129 to 1180, from 1252 to 1254, and from 1258 until 1357
- Possessed on behalf of the king of Hungary from 1257 and with brief interruptions of the Genoese until 1418.
- Devoting itself of its own accord to the Republic of Venice in 1420, and held by it with exemption from any tax until 1797.
- Surrendered with the Veneto State to Napoleon I of France, and united with the Kingdom of Italy from 1806 to 1807, and later from 1808 to 1813 annexed with Dalmaatia to the Illyrian provinces.
- Taken and held by the Russians in 1808
- Taken from the French by the English and guarded for themselves from 1813 to 1815.
- Occupied by Austria, first by obligation from 1797 to 1806, later by Vienna Treaty from 1815 to the present 1858.
References
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